Another MEMS-focused sensor shop, the aptly named MEMSIC focuses on flow sensors and inertial measurement units (IMUs). Like so many IC designers these days, MEMSIC works to provide developers with built-in algorithms, calibration features, and development tools that help speed time to market, as you can find in their INS380ZA EVALKIT intertial measurement system (IMS) pictured below.

[Figure 1 | The INS380ZA EVALKIT is one of several development environments available from MEMSIC for those that require inertial measurement sensing in applications ranging from precision agriculture to construction to avionics.]

Founded in 1999 out of ADI, the company specializes in flow sensors with no moving parts to help with ruggedness and accuracy and eliminate the need for continuous calibration. Like other vendors at the show, MEMSIC was promoting solutions in the agriculture space, but their expertise in IMU/IMS units gives them the unique distinction of being able to deploy in manned/unmanned aircraft for crop monitoring and surveillance. For example, the INS380SA-200 includes a 48-channel GPS receiver and a 9 DOF MEMS sensor suite with fusion software in this 17-gram nugget.

[Figure 2 | The INS380SA-200 and it’s bigger brother the INS380SA-400 are small form factor inertial navigation systems (INS) that integrate 48-channel GPS receivers in fully calibrated standalone modules.]

Expect more from MEMSIC in the coming weeks and months, which is all I can say. Just keep your ear to the street … or maybe the sky, as it were.

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